Construction on the new addition to Spruce Grove's protective services building as Oct. 5, 2018. The new space will allow departments to hire more staff as well as include proper fire poles for area firefighters.
Photo by Evan J. Pretzer Rep/Ex Staff

Next year, Spruce Grove’s protective services building addition will, at long last, be partially open for business and current Spruce Grove Fire Chief Robert Kosterman couldn’t be happier.

Approved by council in 2016, the $24 million plan will add in proper fire poles for the department, a dedicated counter for peace officers to respond to visitors and new flatscreen monitors to replace previously used projectors for presentations. Initially, the construction was supposed to cost a little over $20 million, but officials approved more money for the project earlier this year, largely due to cost projections not holding up.

“The majority of the estimated budget overage relates to site work that was far greater than originally anticipated,” Dave Wolanski, community and protective services general manager said at the March 12, council meeting. “Although the overall budget is higher than the current budget, it remains on par with the original projection.”

Since then, the project has stayed within its allotted funding. Considered to be one of the largest builds in city history, more staff will be joining and be able to join the building upon its completion. According to Chief Kosterman, this will make the area much safer for the public and visitors.

“It is going to be great,” he said Oct. 5. “Previously, labour laws couldn’t allow us to expand our staff in the older size of the building. Now, we are going to double our fire response capabilities and efficiency within the station will speed up. We can even get to our trucks quicker as we’ll have proper fire poles installed.”

Kosterman went on to state the building originally had a space for a proper fire pole, but it became occupied with equipment in the ‘90s and was never changed, forcing firefighters to head down the stairs in the event of an emergency. Though a CBC report from 2014 did suggest the cultural staple of firehouse depictions the world over was on its way out of reality due to injuries and liability, Kosterman claims they’re coming back.

“What a lot of people found across the industry is they were having more injuries without them than they were with them in place,” Kosterman said.

The new addition to the protective services building is scheduled to be finished in January 2020. For Kosterman and his peers, he estimates they’ll be in their living and office spaces come July 2019.